Drivers’ quotes after Qualifying 1 at Vallelunga

Luca Engstler (first): “I put in a very good first lap, but then on my second shot all of a sudden I’ve heard a strange noise and couldn’t shift gears. Shame, because I felt more comfortable and thought I could improve. Now we have to work hard and fix the car in time for second Qualifying, but the schedule is really tight.”

Klim Gavrilov (second): “I’m not that happy, because I think we made a mistake with the tyre pressure. It was not the best with these conditions, I lacked grip in a couple of corners and when the track was drier I was not able to improve; actually I was even slower than when it was totally wet.”

Mat’o Homola (third): “The conditions were difficult and I preferred to be a bit cautious as this is my first time here in Vallelunga and yesterday it was dry in practice. In the end it was not a bad results; it could have been better, but I’m confident for Qualifying 2.”

Jim Ka To (fourth): “I’m very happy. The handling of the car was perfect. The team did a very good job, but the track was tricky, as some parts were drying and some remained very wet. I could have done better, but hit traffic in the second sector.”

Rory Butcher (fifth): “I think the wet track helped us. But in the end it was very encouraging for the team. The car felt good and hopefully we can improve it further during the rest of the weekend.”

John Filippi (seventh): “We thought we had a good set up for these mixed conditions, but in the end it was not as good as we expected. So now we have to understand why we weren’t faster. We are a little bit far, but it’s not over, because the race could be dry and I was fast in the dry yesterday.”